Woman Says She Shot Mate In Struggle

MIDDLESEX — Vanessa B. Butler told police her husband was killed as they struggled for a gun he had pointed at her.

But a prosecutor contends Butler intentionally shot her husband in the head as he prepared to leave their Church View home the night of May 23.

Authorities found Theodore R. ``Scooter'' Butler III, 31, dead on the floor around 11:30 p.m., about 10 minutes after Mrs. Butler called 911.

The versions of how he died were sketched out Wednesday at a preliminary hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Vanessa Butler faces two charges: first-degree, or premeditated, murder; and using a gun in the crime.

Mrs. Butler, 28, did not testify. Her lawyer, Robert G. Cabell Jr. of Richmond, argued that the charge should be reduced to manslaughter, contending there is no evidence of malice or premeditation to support a murder charge.

County deputies and State Police investigators said Butler said her husband came home about 8:10 p.m. acting ``not like himself at all.'' About 9:30, he sent their two young daughters to bed. She wanted to go out to buy lottery tickets, but he told her she couldn't go and looked at her ``very mean.''

She told him she was going to spend the night at her parents', according to testimony, but as she got ready to leave, she turned to find him pointing her .380-caliber pistol at her.

The two struggled and the gun went off, she told police. She said the gun was pointed toward the ceiling when it fired and her finger was on the trigger.

Commonwealth's Attorney James H. Ward Jr. contended the evidence doesn't support a struggle.

Deputy David Taylor testified Mrs. Butler's clothes and hair were in order and the house was neat and clean when he arrived. ``She wasn't visibly upset,'' said Taylor.

Ann Jones, a state forensic scientist, showed results of tests using bullets that had been removed from the pistol. There was noticeable powder residue when fired from 6 inches, 12 inches and 18 inches and very sparse residue at 24 inches, she said.

Ward said there should have been powder marks on Butler if the gun were fired from the distance Mrs. Butler claims. He said the autopsy showed there were none.

Ward also contended the bullet should have traveled up through the man's head or ricocheted off the ceiling. Instead, he said, the bullet entered the right side of Butler's forehead, exited slightly downward at the left side and was found lodged in the wall three feet off the floor.

After testimony, Judge Isabel H. AtLee sent the murder and gun charges to the grand jury, which will decide Sept. 22 if there is enough evidence to try Mrs. Butler. She remains free on bond.

THE CASE

* Vanessa Butler, a 28-year-old Middlesex woman, fired the gun that killed her husband on May 23. No one argues with that. But a prosecutor offered evidence in a preliminary hearing Wednesday that indicates the struggle her lawyer describes never took place. A grand jury will hear the charges Sept. 22.